Pricing Wars

Hey, For those of you who have been as baffled by Oracle's Power Unit pricing
scheme as I have been, give a read from InformationWeek:

Microsoft Updates License Practices

Microsoft is changing the way it licenses server products to bring
its pricing in line with the expectations of E-businesses.
Starting with this fall's release of SQL Server 2000 database,
Microsoft will start charging customers by the number of
processors running its software, instead of according to the
number of end users.

The change, which will apply to five additional server products,
is designed to replace a complex licensing scheme and to match
more streamlined pricing practices of its database competitors.
Under the current system, companies buy from Microsoft resellers a
combination of server licenses, client-access licenses for named
users, and Internet-connector licenses for unnamed users, such as
shoppers on an E-commerce site or guests at a marketplace. More
confusing, the rights associated with each type of license differ
by product.

"Most customers were probably not getting it right," says Barry
Goffe, group manager for Windows DNA at Microsoft. "Customers
said, 'How do I know how many people are connecting to my Web
site?' And our answer was, 'Guess.' Customers never knew if they
were in compliance."

Under the new system, companies buying SQL Server 2000 and the
upcoming Application Center 2000, BizTalk Server 2000, Commerce
Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, and Internet Security
and Acceleration Server will pay a fixed rate per CPU, regardless
of the number of end users for an application. Companies will need
only to calculate the total number of CPUs running the platform
software and discontinue buying separate server, client-access,
and Internet-connector licenses, Goffe says.

"Microsoft is raising prices in the enterprise market," says
Terilyn Palanca, a director at Giga Information Group. That's OK,
since moving the price of its database closer to offerings from
Oracle and IBM will help ease customers' perception that SQL
Server is a departmental product, she says. "As you get into
large-scale deployments, pricing on a client-access basis would be
so onerous to calculate. If you want the recognition of an Oracle
or an IBM, you'd better be priced like that." - Aaron Ricadela
Received on Tue Jun 13 2000 - 08:32:24 CDT